DOGE is a threat to our nation
Elon tries to hide behind the cutesy AI-generated dog logo and dead-meme initials, but DOGE needs to be exclusively framed as a direct threat to American security. This past week we learned from whistleblower Daniel Berulis that Russia seems to have real-time access to some aspect of DOGE’s systems. DOGE isn't just undermining American cybersecurity through incompetence, it's operating as an insider threat by dismantling critical infrastructure, mishandling data, and opening the door for hostile nations like Russia to exploit American systems.
DOGE currently employs a teenage cybercriminal
If you follow cybersecurity news, or have visited a Vegas casino since 2023, you may have heard of the ransomware attack that took down MGM. This attack is attributed to Scattered Spider, a fractal of threat actor group “The Com.” The Com is a social web of threat actor groups coordinating over Discord and Telegram. Turns out interning at Neuralink allows you to skip the clearance process–DOGE employs a teenager that previously sold services to The Com, 19-year-old Edward Coristine. Coristine didn’t have a great reputation, it seems.
Source:
KrebsonSecurity
No, that’s not the compsci channel; those are the internal chats of a fractal of The Com. Lastly, Coristine was fired from Path Networks, a DDoS-protection company known for hiring ex-criminals, for leaking internal documents to a competitor. Not fucking good!
Here you go, Russia :D
While DOGE demands sweeping access to sensitive federal data, it's gutting the teams tasked with defending that data. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) — a lesser-known but vital agency — protects critical infrastructure like hospitals and power grids. One of CISA’s losses is a program that shared threat intel with states and organizations that couldn’t afford to collect their own. Although some of us are proponents of ending blue states’ subsidization of red states, decreasing data protection is only benefitting rival nations. This is just one example of the critical teams DOGE laid off as it works to cut CISA’s funding by 50-90%. Rob Joyce, former NSA cybersecurity director, put it bluntly while testifying before Congress:
“I want to raise my grave concerns that the aggressive threats to cut U.S. government probationary employees will have a devastating effect on cybersecurity and our national security.”
No, Really, Here You Go, Russia
And how prescient Rob Joyce was: whistleblower Daniel Berulis alleged that DOGE requested and received unrestricted access to the National Labor Relations Board’s data. This data was accessed at a permission level so high that normal audit trails weren’t created, and DOGE deleted other evidence of their access. Importantly, immediately after DOGE employees created NLRB accounts, Russia tried to log in using their credentials. The seriousness of this cannot be overstated, with the amount of data DOGE is collecting and compiling. The bottom line is clear: DOGE’s reckless behavior directly handed opportunities to hostile foreign powers.
Musk’s time running DOGE may be coming to a close, but all of this data is still vulnerable. This is all just what we know publicly. DOGE’s poor security practices are a breeding ground for harm to Americans and a benefit to rival nations. DOGE isn’t just negligent. It’s an insider threat. And everyone who enabled it needs to be held accountable.